President Donald Trump touted $3 billion in US investments in critical minerals mining at a meeting Friday with top industry executives aimed at weaning the US off supply chains dominated by China.
Trump said the projects would “create thousands of jobs and promote our economic stability and security,” at an event at the State Department. “We’re putting our miners back to work, and we’re reclaiming America’s rightful place as the minerals superpower of the world,” he added.
Trump said the investments included a $1.4 billion loan agreement with Sila Nanotechnologies Inc. from the Defense Department’s Office of Strategic Capital. Other investments include $400 million by the Pentagon to expand production in Australia of scandium, which is critical to aerospace and defense industries, and $150 million with Niron Magnetics Inc., a Minnesota rare-earths firm.
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The Export-Import Bank is also working to provide more than $1 billion in financing for Ivanhoe Electric Inc.’s Santa Cruz copper project in Arizona, along with a $25 million investment to launch a graphite mine project in Alabama.
The president also hailed plans to spend over $180 million to bolster educational programs for the mining industry, saying it would “train the next generation of American miners.”
Trumps efforts to make US “self-reliant”
Trump said his efforts would ensure the US “is never again reliant on hostile foreign nations for the resources our country needs to dominate in the future.”
The president was expected to be joined by executives from prominent companies, including Rio Tinto Group, BHP Group and Freeport-McMoRan Inc., MP Materials Corp., USA Rare Earth Inc., Energy Fuels Inc., US Antimony Corp., Sunrise Energy Metals Ltd., and The Metals Company.
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The event showcases administration efforts to spur US critical minerals development and processing ahead of a planned visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Washington in September. Trump said that under his administration domestic mines were reopening at a fast pace, including what he said was the first American rare-earth mine in more than 70 years and the construction of the first new aluminum smelter since 1980.
Rare earth minerals remain a source of tension
Despite a trade truce that eased export controls over critical minerals and magnets essential to a host of cutting edge industries, rare earths remain a source of tension between the world’s two largest economies. The US has sought to partner with domestic companies to build out a mine-to-magnet supply chain independent of China.
The federal government has already pledged more than $10 billion of investments in a bid to jump-start nascent US markets for rare earths and permanent magnets. The Pentagon kicked off the spending spree more than a year ago, announcing it would take a $400 million preferred equity stake in MP Materials — the sole domestic rare earths producer — and the US has since announced other projects the government is championing.
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While the scale of the US critical minerals build-out is enormous, there have been serious challenges and slow progress in developing the domestic industry.
